


Amaya

by 3ALover



Series: Surprise [4]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Future Fic, Gen, M/M, Mpreg, Observational Format, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 08:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17117816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3ALover/pseuds/3ALover
Summary: The (possibly) final installment of this series, a character study in Yuzuru and Javier's third and final child and the struggles in her life that never kept her from triumph, like a true Hanyu-Fernandez child.





	Amaya

**Author's Note:**

> This is likely the last chapter in this lovely series. I say likely and won't click the 'finished' button because I think Emi deserves her one-shot in the sun, but currently I have no ideas for a fic focusing on her. Perhaps one day I will write her Olympic journey? 
> 
> The format to this is weird, but I just had these ideas I wanted to get out.

As soon as Mateo started juniors, he started getting requests from the press. Yuzuru and Javier tried their best to shield him from the pressure of international fame, but when he won the Junior Grand Prix and only thirteen, there was nothing they could do really. The best they and Shoma could manage for him was limiting the press exposure. Yuzuru sat in the room, watching diligently as Mateo gave an interview with Shoma at his side, ready to interrupt at any moment and stop them from asking anything he didn’t think was fit for Mateo to answer. 

However, his son was smart. Yuzuru watched with a warm heart as he handled the pressure of cameras on his face very calmly. Even when one question and answer made Yuzuru want to cry, he was so proud of Mateo. 

“Who would you say is your hero?” he was asked, and it didn’t take a seconds hesitation for Mateo to answer.

“My baby sister, Amaya.” Yuzuru clutched his chest, fighting the urge to cry. “She’s only three and she’s way braver than I ever have been,” Mateo said firmly. “She’s always happy and she doesn’t let anything stop her from having fun. My sister Emi and me, we took Amaya skating the other day and she loved it even if she can’t stand in skates yet.”

Yuzuru and Javier had been blessed with three wonderful children. Unfortunately, they weren’t blessed with three healthy children. Yuzuru had felt so sure after Mateo and Emi were healthy children that it was a great idea to have one last baby, and it had been. He and Javier were beyond happy to have three children. But his body that had held it together for two healthy pregnancies hadn’t managed the third that well. Amaya was born three months early. She barely survived the first month of her life. She didn’t get to come home from the hospital until she was four months old and Yuzuru cried every single day of her first four months on earth. Javier and the kids was really the only reason Yuzuru hadn’t lost it entirely. She was born only weeks after Mateo won his first Canadian Nationals novice medal, with no real warning anything was wrong before Yuzuru unexpectedly went into labor. It had been a real struggle for the whole family. 

“She didn’t learn to walk until she was two, cause she was born too early,” Mateo explained. “She’s sick a lot, so she didn’t get as much practice learning to walk and stuff like other babies. But now she’s three and was able to let us hold her arms and help her skate, and she didn’t get mad she couldn’t skate alone and stuff. And it took her a lot longer to learn to talk but she never shuts up now,” he said with a smile. “She’s just really strong and brave. She’s definitely my hero,” Mateo said, and Yuzuru put a hand over his mouth. He could see Shoma blinking back tears, too. 

“She sounds really great,” the interviewer said. “So, who is your favorite skater?” he continued, and Yuzuru subtly wiped at his eyes a little. His son was so kind and so sweet. Yuzuru could only think that he really took after Javier more than he did Yuzuru.

~

“Papa, Papa!”

“Papa!”

“Hey, Papa!”

Javier groaned, throwing his hands up. “Papa, Papa, all I ever hear is Papa!” He turned away from where he was trying not to let the stir fry burn. He looked at the door. “Mateo, why are you not ready to go?” he asked. “Tousan is taking you to the rink in five minutes!”

Mateo groaned. “My pants don’t fit!” He held his leg up and Javier snorted at how short they were. Mateo was growing far too fast. He was already nearly Yuzuru’s height and he was only thirteen. 

“Go get some of Tousan’s training pants,” he said, then looked to Emi, who was at the table. “Yes, Emi?”

“Can I dye my hair pink?” she asked, and Javier scoffed.

“ _No_ ,” he said, then looked down at the child tugging on his pants. “Yes, Amaya?” he asked.

She smiled up at him and held up her arms. “I want a hug!”

Javier softened some and crouched to pick her up. “Oof, you’re getting heavy,” he said, settling her on his hip. He hugged her and kissed her curls. She, too, had inherited Javier’s curly hair, but if anything, it was even wilder than Mateo’s had been when he was little. “Mateo isn’t the only one growing like crazy,” he said, and though it was a joke internally he could only feel relieved. Having a child who was premature, had health problems, and was developmentally behind, it was always good for her to be growing. He held her on his hip as he went back to stirring the vegetables, so they didn’t burn. 

“All I could find is Team Japan pants. I’ll just put black tape on my thigh,” Mateo said, walking back in, ready to go to the rink. He and Shoma were doing a press thing at the rink tonight, and Javier and Yuzuru only agreed because Shoma knew better than to let them harass his children. 

“Mateo, hugs!” Amaya cried, holding her arms out to him now. Javier chuckled at how easily she played them all. For all her developmental delays, her cognitive development was spot on. Mentally, she was where she should be, and beyond that, she was smart, too. She could manipulate them all so easily. She was getting old enough to realize her health meant they all babied her, and she knew nobody denied what she wanted most of the time. 

“I don’t have but a minute,” he said, taking her from Javier, hugging her close. He bumped their noses together and she giggled and then hugged him around the neck, laying her head on his shoulder. Javier grinned, shaking his head. Mateo was definitely a pushover like Javier was. Everybody was soft for Amaya, but Javier and Mateo both had the hardest time denying either of the girls anything. And Javier still caved to Yuzuru without much of a fight, even after thirteen years of marriage. Yuzuru was the father who was able to put his foot down, not Javier, and having two younger siblings meant Mateo was definitely the pushover big brother. He never fought with his sisters because he was so protective and loved being their ‘big, strong’ brother. He liked cooking for them and helping them learn things and rocking Amaya to sleep. He had serious paternal instincts and he was only thirteen. Javier was sure he would end up like himself and want tons of children when he was an adult. 

“Come on, Mateo,” Yuzuru said from the doorway, keys in hand. 

“Tousan, hugs!” Amaya cried, holding her arms towards him.

Yuzuru took her with a smile and kissed her head. “Mmm, good hugs,” he said, then poked her nose. “I have to put you down now, we have to go, but why don’t you go sit with Emi and help her with her homework?” he suggested, and Javier mouthed ‘thank you’ when Yuzuru looked at him and winked. 

“Emi!” She wiggled down from Yuzuru’s hold and ran over to climb up into the chair with Emi, hugging her close. 

It was a relief to see her running. She took so long to be able to walk, even if she ran like a baby who just learned to run, wobbling back and forth, it was a good sign. The doctors said she would be caught up with the rest of her peers physically by the time she was six as long as illness didn’t hit her too hard. She spent three weeks in the hospital just last winter due to pneumonia. She had only been able to get her shots last year, so before that, she couldn’t go out in public for fear she would catch a disease she hadn’t been immunized against. She still wore a mask anytime they went out during flu season or if a bug was going around. 

When Javier saw his little girl climb out of Emi’s chair and run away to get her coloring book, he thanked every power in the universe that her legs didn’t collapse under her like they had every time she tried to stand when the other children her age were learning to run, not just stand up. 

~

“I like Emi’s dress.” Yuzuru looked down at Amaya, who was watching Emi skating in her new costume to get a feel for how it moved with her on the ice. 

“Yeah?” Yuzuru asked, brushing a curl behind her ear. “It’s very sparkly, huh?”

“Can I have a sparkly dress?” she asked, looking up at him with a little tilt of her head. “A pretty blue one like Emi!”

Yuzuru smiled and nodded, kissing her head. “I’ll try to get you one if I can.” 

Three weeks later, there were photos of Emi Hanyu-Fernandez accepting a teddy bear from her baby sister, who wear a matching skating dress as she sat with her father in the stands, as he held her out so she could give the teddy bear to her big sister. Emi stopped to give her a kiss before skating off to the Kiss and Cry at her very first Novice Sectionals. 

~

Mateo Hanyu-Fernandez moved up to Seniors at the age of sixteen years old, with his younger sister moving up to Juniors that same year. 

That very same year, Amaya Hanyu-Fernandez was recommended by her physical therapist that perhaps enrolling her in gymnastics classes would help fine-tune her physical development since she had caught up to her peers growth-wise, but her muscles were still not as strong as they should be.

~

Had Yuzuru or Javier ever been asked if they thought all three of their children would be Olympians, they would have denied it as impossible. And yet, at the 2042 Winter Olympics. Mateo Hanyu-Fernandez skated his final competition as a figure skater all the way to the silver medal he had been denied his first Olympics competition four years previous. Emi Hanyu-Fernandez got a gold medal at her first and likely only Olympics.

That same year, Amaya Hanyu-Fernandez qualified for a spot on the Canadian Junior women’s gymnastics team for Worlds. In 2044, Yuzuru and Javier found themselves giving the one interview they never could have dreamed they would ever give. 

“When did you know Amaya could have been an Olympian just like yourselves?” 

Yuzuru shook his head. “I never dreamed of it.” He fought back tears at the memory of her first month of life, going through surgeries and near-death illnesses. “Amaya was born at only twenty-six weeks, she was barely bigger than my hand. We really thought she wouldn’t survive that first month. She was four months old before she got to even come home.” 

Javier nodded. “Amaya couldn’t walk until she was two. She was three before she could even run.” He shook his head. “I remember one physical therapist told me, without any prompting, ‘You do know she’ll never be a figure skater, right?’ and I wanted to punch him,” he said with a bit of a growl, the wrinkles of his face making his expression more severe. “I didn’t care about her being an athlete, I never thought once about it before that. I just wanted her to be able to walk and play like a normal child,” he said almost tearfully and Yuzuru squeezed his hand. “She was so happy and I wanted her to be able to play and run and do all the things the other children could do so she stayed happy.”

“How did Amaya go from unable to walk to being the favorite to become the first Canadian woman in a decade to win an Olympic gymnastics medal?”

Yuzuru smiled. “A doctor told us she would develop stronger muscles if she did gymnastics classes, just like a lot of little girls. Little cute outfits and somersaults and stuff. But she loved it,” he said fondly. “She got strong enough to learn to skate, but she didn’t want to do that, she wanted to do the stuff the ‘big girls’ at the back of the gymnastics school did, where the bars and vaults and stuff were.” He chuckled. “We always joked when Mateo hated the cold at first that if he wanted to be a swimmer, we would have a Summer Olympian in the family, but we never thought it would happen. But she just kept getting better. And anything to help her stay strong was good for us.”

Javier nodded. “Until she was ten, she was always underweight. She was both premature and took after Yuzuru and Emi.” Yuzuru, even in his old age, was still very slight, and Emi was tiny as an adult, very slender and long-limbed like Yuzuru. “The more she did gymnastics, the stronger she was, the more she could eat, and the better her immune system was from the nutrition and activity.” He smiled fondly. “Then one of the coaches at the facility said they were visited by a ‘real’ coach and they spotted Amaya and thought she had the talent it would take to be an elite gymnast. We had two kids who were elite athletes, so who were we to do anything but encourage it?” he said simply. 

“Currently, as I said, she’s a favorite for both the all-around and the uneven bars. If she wins a medal at either event, your entire family will be a family of Olympic medalists. What would you say is the secret to a family of champions?”

Yuzuru looked at Javier, and Javier grinned, squeezing his hand. Yuzuru smiled and looked at the camera as he spoke. “Support. Javier’s family supported him when he began skating to the point his father learned to sharpen his skates on his own when they couldn’t afford it. My mother gave up a decade of her life traveling the world with me. When I came back for my final season when my son was three, Javier did _everything_ to keep me from losing focus with all the distractions. Mateo, Emi, and Amaya have always had our support. I gave up skating twice for my children without hesitation. I’ve been a stay-at-home parent for most of the past twenty-six years, just so I can make sure my children achieve the dreams my mother helped me achieve.” He laughed softly. “Our old coach, Mateo and Emi’s coach, and Amaya’s coach, all of them, they gave so much to help us all. I always heard when I was skating that I was untouchable because of natural talent, but I wasn’t,” Yuzuru emphasized. “I was so good because people supported me. Amaya is incredible, but she was born without the natural talent to _walk_ most people have, she just worked hard to be how she is now, and we supported her at every step.”

Javier squeezed his hand again. “If our baby girl wins a medal, it’s because everyone who ever supported her gave her the chance to work hard and _earn_ it. Us being her parents doesn’t matter. DNA only goes so far. She earned every bit of skill she has, and worked harder than some kids ever had to as a child to reach this level. And if she comes dead last in every event, it won’t change anything. She worked hard. Nothing can take away how far she’s come from the only two-year-old at the doctor’s office who can’t walk to a sixteen-year-old who can do things most people would never dream of and look beautiful doing it.”

“Are your other children, Mateo and Emi, both medalists at the previous Winter Olympics, going to be here to support their sister?”

“Definitely,” Yuzuru said, beaming. “She came to every skate they’ve ever done since she was born, there’s no way they won’t be here to cheer her on. Almost everyone who loves her is here and we can’t wait to watch our girl do what she loves most, no matter what the results.”

~

On August 3rd, 2044, Amaya Hanyu-Fernandez became the youngest Canadian woman in decades to win a bronze medal in the All-Around Final at the Summer Olympic Games. 

Yuzuru was absolutely inconsolable in the stands, much to the embarrassment of his entire family. 

“LEAVE ME ALONE, MY BABY WON A BRONZE MEDAL, I’M OLD, I’M ALLOWED TO GET EMOTIONAL!”


End file.
